Wednesday, February 19, 2014

So this past week has been really fun for me, I have been fortunate enough to read some seriously good books and for the most part am caught up with just about everything (work, e-mail, home, errands, etc).
So I decided to spend some time this afternoon doing some editing that isn't due for another two or three week, but hey I had the time so why not. One of my absolute favorite things to do when editing is put on a good soundtrack. It always puts me in the right frame of mind, helps me focus and removes all stress. Lately I have been positively addicted to Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. If you haven't heard of them before, well you should without a doubt google them and listen to some of their music. The work they do for soundtracks is just so amazingly beautiful. They do amazing things with instrumentals, they make them so haunting or hopeful, there is even one song reminds me of a sunrise. To be able to paint a picture with sounds and no words, is just such a feat.
Anyway, I wanted to drop in and say hello to everyone while I get some editing work done. Hope everyone is having an amazing week.

PS If you are in the market for a new laptop, I have had my new MacBook Pro for a couple weeks now (I think three) and I am completely in love with. While my MacBook was alive and kicking for many years, and died through no fault of the computer (damn water damage) the MacBook Pro just has a smoother run, and in general is a nicer machine. I also really like the metal casing versus plastic. Plus the new Pros have the Retina display which is so crisp and easy to look at. I would recommend it to anyone who is in the market for a new laptop.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

I can remember getting my first job in publishing. It was towards the end of the semester, school was almost over for me, and I kept thinking about how I was going to use my education and how much I was going to miss reading books all the time and learning new things. I really thought that I would go into teaching, spend another two years on a masters degree in education and that would be that. I had made some friends in publishing through some chance meetings, so when I got the e-mail out of the blue to apply for a job as an editor, I was both shocked and excited. I have never even entertained the idea of becoming an editor.

When I made past the first round of hires, and then went on to the editing test, followed by interviews, and in depth conversations about what I liked to read and what was I wanting from a job in publishing, I have to admit I was getting very excited. The first book I edited was terrifying for me, but also so exciting. I wanted to do everything right. I still remember my first e-mail exchange with my author, and how sweet she was, and how ready to do the work she was. I had so much fun working with her, and the dialogue between the two of us, both working on this really amazing book, was really just such a good experience.

Over the years I have gotten to work with so many amazing people, so many fantastic authors, publishers, and editors-in-chief that I truly can call my friends. The people who make up the publishing world are really some of the greatest, nicest people you could ever hope to work with.

Recently, within the past couple of days, new ideas and opportunities have been coming my way. A very dear friend and I were talking about what our "dream" projects would be a while back, we were throwing around all kinds of ideas. One of the ideas that we were discussing, has since been pitched and been given the green light (best Tuesday ever). So now begins the long and so exciting process of making our dream come to life. I don't anticipate this happening quickly, there is a lot of work to be done, but to say I am up for the challenge would be the world's biggest understatement. I am so thrilled to be working on a project so near and dear to my heart, and when it gets closer to completion I will of course be so excited and happy to share the details.

In the meantime, I will be at RWA's annual conference this year (July) and I look forward to seeing all the new authors who will be there, and running into some old friends. I have always loved everything the RWA does for their authors and being a part of that organization has truly been a great experience in my life. Note to self: design new business cards before July, mine are going on three years old!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends, and of course that you all survived the black friday sales!

Christmas is rapidly approaching, and it is truly my favorite time of year. This year I am not going to be traveling, as I took my vacation a few weeks before Thanksgiving instead. This time of year is when it's great to spend time with family and reflect on the year that has past.

I normally see an uptick in editing work come January (thank you New Years resolutions), so if you want to get in before the January rush, contact me now and we can get started on making your dreams of publishing a book come true!

I am also thinking about running some after Christmas sales for the indie authors, so stay tuned to look for those deals!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

I am super happy to announce that I am opening up the blog design portion of my business months earlier than I anticipated. I love using blogs, and I think they are even more important for authors to have a blog.

Publishing has changed so much over the years, and in this day of social networking and blogs it is even more important that authors have them. Being accessible to your readers is so important, if readers feel like you are available to them they are more likely to be loyal fans who will buy all your books and talk them up to their friends. And those readers are the best kind of readers to have.

My goal this year is to turn my business into a one stop shop for authors, where they can find anything they need in relation to their books, and can find these services at a reasonable price.

After the editing business was established my next logical step was blogs. I am very excited about branching out, I love the creative aspect of it. I did one of my first blogs for a paying customer, and I have to say it was a lot of fun putting together all the various options and working with someone to create something they like.

If you want more information just look under web design and as always you can send me an e-mail at kate@kathrynkoller.com with any questions you might have. I look forward to hearing from you all, and in the mean time I am going to start making a couple of premade designs for sale at a cheaper price!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Today I finished up editing a novel by an author I really love working with, and whose books I love reading. Since I finished earlier in the night than I anticipated I was able to start on my next project. Judging.

From time to time I am lucky enough to judge contests in the writing world. And this is one of those times. I like judging, it's kind of a mix of editing and reviewing all in one. I have judged published works for contests as well as unpublished. I have to say my favorite to judge is unpublished. The reason why I say this is because I am able to give the authors comments about the various elements they are being judged on. There is nothing more helpful to an author than getting feedback from multiple people about your writing. It can be so monumentally helpful to have some identify your strengths and your weakness. I like that they are unpublished works because the author has time to go back and revise before sending it out in the world to agents and publishers. It feels like I am doing my part to help polish someone else's hard work and determination in the hopes that they will one day achieve their dreams with their writing career.

Plus it's fun to get snap shots of books out there, I know I like a writer when I'm bummed that the page limit on the contest means I don't get to read the book from start to finish. If any of you are considering entering a contest for unpublished or published writers, you should seriously do it, the feedback alone makes it beyond worth it.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

I just finished with all the coding and making the new pages for the new menu! This should make this a lot easier for you to find what you are looking for on the site. The new drop down menu allows for specific information to be on it's own page instead of one super long page where you have to read through tons of information to find what you are looking for.

I filled out a couple of the pages today, but I have a few pages that are right now just space holders that haven't been filled in yet. I will be working on adding in the details over the next couple of days.

Once I finish with the menu bar and the respective pages, I am going to start work on the sidebar. I will keep you all up to date, and thank you for all the kind e-mails about the new site!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Today's book I am working on, and actually I have been working on it since yesterday, is about vampires. So I thought I would stop in a say a couple of things to those of you who read the blog and are thinking about writing about vampires.

Vampires are super commercial at the moment, but since they have been super commercial at the moment a lot of readers have started to get weary about them. This is especially true to fans of the urban fantasy genre long before it became so popular. So what do you do if you really love vampires and want to write a novel about them?

I have one really big piece of advice. Make them unique. It sounds so simple, but really it isn't. If you are a reader who loves vampires, and you love Author A's vampire series, while you are waiting for the next book in the series you may just seek out another vampire book/series. Now what do you suppose that reader thinks when they open Author B's book about vampires and finds that the vampires from Author B's book are super similar almost exactly the same as Author A's. Well I'll tell you: they tend to dislike Author B. Most readers who have already developed an emotional relationship with Author A's vampires, will find Author B's vampires to be a poor man's imitation. Sometimes this will make them really angry, but more often then not it will leave them feeling ambivalent about Author B, not something you want to have happen if you are Author B.

So here is my advice. Read 5-6 vampires book, or re-read them, whatever the case may be. Make sure they are all by different authors. Now visualize the vampires you want to come up with. If your vamps remind you of any of the vamps you just read about, they need to be more unique. Come up with something that sets them apart from the others, let your imagination be your guide. It can be a strength, but even better, it could be a weakness. Giving your characters more to overcome always makes for more entertaining books.

While it is true that you are never going to come up with a 100% unique vampire, some elements will always be similar, you have to do something to make you vampire original. So when the reader reads your book, they think, wow that's a cool way to have a vampire, or even better they go and tell their friends about how this author they just read came up with a new take on vampires, and that they think their friend should check out the book.

My goal for the new year is to keep my audience up to date with what I am working on as well as tips I think you can use. Part of my service as an editor is to tell the author where I think there book needs to be stronger, or even where the authors strength is. So while I am working I will try and pick one thing or element that I can make universal and put it out there for you all to use. Hope everyone is having a good new years, I know a lot of people are back at work, so hope everyone is having a good week, and getting ready for the weekend!